The Conduit
by ShepardCommander147
Summary: With the Normandy grounded Shepard has to find away to get to the Conduit before Saren does, with or without the Council's help.
1. Chapter 1

The Conduit

Shepard was sitting against his locker next to the mess hall with his helmet lying beside him on the floor as he contemplated his limited options. He wasn't going to give up without a fight but the council had taken everything and grounded the Normandy, he was so engrossed in his thoughts he hadn't notice the soft click of footsteps across the metal flooring as Liara came around the corner.

"Shepard I heard what happened, I'm so sorry," Liara said in a sympathetic tone.

"I guess I know how Anderson felt," he said looking up from the floor to make eye contact with her.

Liara leaned her back against the lockers and slid her back down across them causing her to land next to him, "It isn't right, the council owes you everything!" The frustration in her voice clearly evident.

"Yeah politicians have a short memory when it suits them." He replied straying from his usual stoic tone.

Shepard usually didn't keep a stoic tone with her all the time mostly when on missions but this was different from him just being personal with her, "You aren't giving up are you? You can still appeal their decision or go back to them, maybe they'll consider some of your offers!"

"I'm not giving up I just. I pushed them as hard as I could and they wouldn't budge," he said as he broke eye contact with her as his eyes drifted back down to the floor.

Liara quickly stood up and turned to face him, "No there's too much at stake for you to give up now," she said extending her arm down toward him.

He looked up at her as he grabbed her out stretched hand and pulled himself up as soon as he was on his feet Liara had already wrapped her arms around him and he had of course returned the gesture in kind, "We can do this," Liara said starring up at him.

Shepard moved his head in closer as he began to kiss her before Joker's voice startled both of them causing them to instinctively jump back slightly though still holding each other, "Commander you've got a message from Anderson he says it's important, he wanted to meet you down at the Flux."

"Were you spying on us Joker?" Shepard asked looking up at the intercom speaker.

"Of course not Commander, I just happened to be wrapping up things on the Normandy."

Liara responded in disbelief, "Uh-huh"

"Tell him I'm on my way," he said as they let go of each other

"Grab Kaidan and get the crew together one way or another we're going after the Conduit," he said as he turned to head up the stairs.

It'd only taken him about five minutes to reach the club, he was still a few meters away from the entrance but he could already hear the pounding music from the club radiating from the entrance. As he approached a turian bouncer waved him inside and he walked in to the sight of people dancing and gambling their credits away on the machines to his right. He focused his gaze over to the back of the club where he saw Anderson sitting at a table by himself with a drink in his hand. He made his way over to the table brushing through the crowds of intoxicated patrons.

"So I guess this is how you felt," Shepard said to get Anderson's attention though he was still a few feet away from the table.

"I'm sorry Shepard I tried to warn you but there was no way to relay a message to the Normandy, Udina had this planned the entire time," Anderson said as Shepard took a seat at the chair opposite of Anderson.

"It's not your fault Anderson," Shepard replied as he pulled his chair closer to the metal table in front of him

"No but I intend to help you fix this, the council thinks the threat has passed but you and I both know that isn't true and I'll be damned if I sit on my ass drinking ale while the Reapers wipe us out," Anderson said as he took another sip of his drink.

"Did you have something in mind?"

"Udina is the one who issued the lock out if I can break into his office I'll be able to override it and you can be halfway to the Terminus Systems before anyone even knows you're gone," Anderson said taking one more sip of his drink before pushing it to the side.

"If Udina is in his office I doubt he's just going to let you use his computer."

"It's either his office or breaking into Citadel control and I know I'm old but knocking out a politician seems like a cake walk," Anderson said with a smile.

"Still even if we escape we'll leave you holding the bag, I can't do that to you Anderson."

"Shepard if you fail nothing else is going to matter, if these Reapers truly did wipe out the Protheans I doubt we'll fare any better," Anderson said looking Shepard sternly in the eye.

Shepard hesitated for a moment as he contemplated what Anderson had said before responding, "Alright when do we move?"

"I'll head to the Ambassadors office in a few minutes just get to the Normandy and be ready," Anderson said as he stood up from table and extended his hand towards Shepard.

Shepard stood up and shook Anderson's hand, "Be careful Anderson."

"You to," Anderson said before releasing his grip and heading for the exit.


	2. Chapter 2

"How are we even going to get past the lockouts?" Presley asked as he stood over by his terminal towards the left side of the galaxy map.

"Hopefully Anderson has something," Kaidan replied as he tapped away at one of the terminals no doubt double and triple checking each system to make sure it was ready.

"He should be back any moment," Liara said as she fiddled around in her omni-tool no doubt trying to distract herself from their current situation.

"Shepard and Anderson will pull through, they always have," Joker said as he emerged slowly from the wide and open corridor leading to the cockpit as he slowly and deliberately made his way towards the CIC.

Shepard emerged from the airlock as he made his way to the CiC, "I want everyone at their posts we're moving out as soon as Anderson gives us the go ahead," Shepard said as he checked the main console in the CIC ensuring everything was standing by.

Shepard turned from the console and made his way with Joker back to the cockpit. It had only been about ten minutes when the red docking indicator flickered slighty before turning to a bright green color, signaling they were ready for takeoff.

"Get the hell out of here Joker!" Shepard exclaimed as he grabbed onto the side of one of the bulkheads.

"On it Commander," Joker said as the clamps released their grip on the Normandy's hull as Joker quickly maneuvered the Normandy out of the docking area ensuring the clamps wouldn't get another chance to lock back onto them.

The Normandy quickly accelerated to its max sub-light speed as they made their way out of Citadel Control's jurisdiction. Once they were clear the Normandy accelerated to faster than light speeds towards the nearest relay.

"We've got about twelve hours until we'll reach Illos depending on how much noise Anderson made we might have company waiting for us at the Relay, should we bring the stealth systems online?"

"No we'll need as much silent running time as we can get when we enter the Terminus systems," Shepard said before turning back to the CiC.

Shepard walked over to the main console that was elevated slightly and facing the galactic map that interfaced with the Normandy's navigation systems. The display flickered to life as he tapped his finger on the screen giving him a quick summary of how the Normandy was preforming. Satisfied with the report he looked up from his terminal at Presley, "I just want to make it crystal clear if we meet resistance at the relay we don't fire a single shot."

"Of course Commander, I'll see if I can get the kinetic barriers some extra juice," Presley said before turning his attention to a console behind him.

Joker's voice came through the intercom a few moments later, "We're approaching the relay, preparing to drop to sub-light speeds."

A soft mechanical hum could be heard from the drive core as they returned to sub-light and began their approach on the relay.

"Commander we've got an alliance ship in bound, it's the SSV Jakarta and they're trying to hail us," Presley said as he looked up from his terminal at Shepard.

"Answer them but stay on course," Shepard said glancing back at the display.

"SSV Normandy stand down and prepare to return with us under escort to the citadel."

"You know I can't do that," Shepard replied.

Suddenly the display screens lit up with alarms as a blast of GUARDIAN lasers flew around them, "Stay on course," Shepard yelled.

Three more barrages fired off to their side each one missing the Normandy by a sizeable amount. Joker's voice came over the intercom, "Commander I think they're missing us on purpose, these shots aren't even coming close."

Presley looked up with a small grin on his face, "I'd have to agree."

Suddenly Hackett's voice came over the com, "Good luck Shepard, you're going to need it," he said before closing the line and three more barrages were fired off to their side each one missing the Normandy.

"At least someone is finally on our side," Presley said as they began their final approach on the relay.

The Normandy hit the relay as a beam of energy engulfed them in a mass effect field before hurling them across the galaxy.

"I doubt we'll be encountering further resistance, I want us running silent when we reach the Terminus system," he said before stepping down from the platform.

Shepard made his way towards the mess hall, as he walked down the steps from the CiC the red warning lights indicating that the ship was engaged in combat faded. Once he reached the bottom of the steps the lights had completely faded off, he opened the door and walked past the dividing wall separating the mess hall from the CiC entrances to find Liara who was drinking something from a thermal cup. Though what exactly she was drinking he couldn't tell from this distance. He greeted her as he walked over to the chair beside her at the table.

"What happened? I heard the alarms but frankly there wasn't much I could do." Liara said before taking a slow and deliberate sip from her drink.

"The SSV Jakarta was stationed at the relay, thankfully Hackett's on our side. They fired some shots at our sides but nothing even touched the barriers, they put on a hell of a show for Udina though."

"I'm glad it wasn't anything serious though I wish there was something more I could've done to assist," she said as she placed her drink on the cold metal surface of the table.

"Don't worry about it the Normandy came fully staffed and everyone's well trained aside from helping injured I'm not sure there's much you could've done," Shepard said giving her a reassuring smile.

"You're right, I suppose it's a good thing my assistance wasn't required then," she said as she shifted in her chair, trying to find a more comfortable position.

"What's that?" He asked as he looked over at the metal thermal cup sitting on the table.

"Oh it's a human beverage Dr. Chakwas showed me a few days ago, coffee was the name if I recall?" Liara said as she brought the cup up to her mouth again and took another sip of the coffee.

"Do the asari have anything similar?"

"Stimulant wise yes but taste wise well… I'm not sure I recall anything this bitter," she said as she leaned back in her chair and took another sip of her coffee.

Shepard stood up from his chair, "I'm going to go work on some reports."

Liara sat her drink down and looked over at him curiously, "Reports?"

He turned his head back to face her, "Don't want to get behind for when we make it out of this and it's a nice distraction."


	3. Chapter 3

Liara smiled at him as he walked down the walk way towards his quarters. Once he had walked out of sight she turned back to her steaming coffee and took one final drink of the warm and bitter liquid and sat the now empty cup on the table. She pulled her data pad out from under her seat where she had set it when she first came in. The data pad contained all the information she had gathered on the Protheans from the duration of the mission. She had been logging and recording all the data she had found about the beacons and of course the Reapers. She had almost finished her entry on the beacon from Virmire when a group of three crewman entered the room, one of them looked to be a gunnery officer, the other an engineer, and the last one was a marine. The marines were almost always armed making them easily identifiable by the sidearm they carried, the other two she had been able to tell by the variations in their uniform which she had finally came around to memorizing.

"So you're telling me the Commander tackled and wrestled one of the geth on Virmire?" The engineer asked the marine cheerfully.

"Yeah our whole unit was pinned down by this sniper and out comes the Commander from behind enemy lines, he flung one of the geth at least ten meters with his biotics and then he tackled the sniper!" The marine said back to the engineer as they grabbed some rations from one of the dispensers on the far side of the room.

They made their way back to the table sitting a few seats down to her right at the end of the table. They appeared to be discussing something else now though she usually tried not to ease drop her curiosity got the better of her. She shifted in her chair as she tried to make out what they were saying.

"You know that asari over there? Well I think she and the Commander have something going on if you know what I mean?" the gunnery officer said to the amusement of his friends. Liara couldn't help but blush a little as she tried to hide her ease dropping by holding her data pad closer to her face.

"Come on that's no secret, hell on Virmire me and a few other guys saw them rubbing up against each other by the Mako!" The marine said before taking a bite of his rations, "You know the Lieutenant has a thing for asari?"

"Hah, who doesn't?" the engineer responded before taking a bite of his rations.

She couldn't help but be amazed by the crew's lack of concern over the mission, they had stolen the most advanced ship in the alliance and were now crossing into the Terminus systems for an unsanctioned mission. Though she knew a court martial would be the least of their problems if they failed, the crew's loyalty was still admirable.

Suddenly the commotion from the group at the end of the table ceased causing her to look up from her data pad. Kaidan was standing at the entrance and appeared to be grabbing some rations. He turned back towards her and sat down beside her, "How's it going T'Soni?"

Most of the crew had come to call her by her last name, as humans would call it, though at first she was somewhat offset by it she had come around to liking it, "Just finishing up some of my notes," she replied and smiled over at him.

"Interesting," Kaidan said before taking a bite of his rations, "by human standards you'd have spent almost all your life studying the Protheans, must be nice to finally get some answers after fifty years."

"Yes, though it seems my hobby seems to always get me in trouble, when I was still very young my mother caught be digging for bones in the park."

Kaidan chuckled before taking a drink of water, "I'd never figured you as the type to go digging for dinosaurs. Though before Jump Zero I had the knack of digging in the yard for who knows what," Kaidan said before taking another bite of his rations. Liara glanced over at the group she had been ease dropping on who now appeared to be returning the favor as they sat finishing their meals in almost dead silence.

"Hah I can already see it now, a few miniature Shepard's digging up central park," Kaidan said causing Liara's face to turn bright red.

Though she had given her relationship with Shepard a great deal of thought she hadn't paid much thought to children, she was only a hundred and six after all. It's not that she found the idea of having children with Shepard appalling, not in the least, it was just very sudden. A few months ago she could hardly imagine giving someone a kiss, let alone having children.

"Oh my bad I didn't intend to embarrass you," Kaidan said clearly aware of her bright red face.

"Oh you're fine," Liara said trying to avoid any more awkwardness that she seemed to be prone to, fifty years of introversion did have its side effects.

She looked down at her data pad and picked it up, "I think I'm going to get some rest," she said as she got up from her seat.

"See you around T'Soni," Kaidan said before turning back to his rations.

Liara made her way past Kaidan and turned the corner to face the med-bay. She entered to find Chakwas sitting at her desk to her right. Chakwas appeared to be focused on her work, almost oblivious to her presence so she decided to skip the usual greeting and made her way to the back of the room. She opened the door to reveal her desk sitting to her right and her bed sitting by the back wall. She sat her data pad down by her desk and filed her report.


	4. Chapter 4

Shepard had just finished his reports and logged their reasons for stealing the Normandy and their intentions, just in case things took a turn for the worse. He sat back in his seat and studied the picture of Liara and him on the Citadel. He was lost in thought when the familiar beep from the door panel sounded, "Come in," he said as he sat up straight in his chair.

"I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you," Liara said as she stepped inside.

"Not at all," he said as he pulled his other chair out from the side of the desk and motioned for her to take a seat.

Liara sat down in the seat beside him, "I know this is somewhat sudden but considering this could be out last mission, maybe even our final hours…"

"Wait I don't want you to rush this, if you aren't ready that's okay," he said shifting in his seat.

He waited observing her as she shifted nervously in her seat, "You don't have to worry about pressuring me, I've thought it through," Liara said.

"How exactly does this work?" He asked as Liara began to stand up.

"Just relax," Liara said as she took a seat on his lap with her each of her legs on each side of his.

Liara placed her head on his forehead as her eyes went black, "Embrace eternity."

He felt an overwhelming sense of pleasure as thoughts and feelings began to overwhelm his mind. He began to feel emotions he wasn't sure were his, he felt nervous, though he was anxious before the mission he couldn't recall being nervous. He wrapped his arms around her and brought her in close causing another surge of pleasure to overwhelm them though this time he it wasn't just his emotions it was their emotions. He finally began to grasp it their minds, thoughts, and feelings we're merging together it was unlike anything he'd ever experienced before. After a few moments they were so connected that he could feel his hands on her back as if he was her, she kissed him causing surges of pleasure to course throughout their bodies.

He picked her up as her legs wrapped around his back as he just stood there enjoying the moment as he kissed her neck. After a few seconds he walked over to the bed as he bent over and laid on top of her careful not to put his full weight on top of her. He began kissing her as her hands slid off of his back and over to the seam on her uniform as she unzipped it leaving her uniform half slid open revealing the sides of her breasts and her stomach. She was excited as he was at the sight of her perfect blue skin though she had heard stories about bonding she never knew it was this close or that their emotions would become so mixed.

She moved her hands up from her stomach to his waist and moved her hands up the insides of his shirt a long his sides as the lax shirt he had changed into slid up a long with her hands. She was startled as she felt hands move up her sides in almost the exact same manor she was doing even though his hands were still wrapped around her back holding him up from crushing her. She moved him onto his back as she sat on top of his waist and slid his shirt off causing him to return the favor as he moved his hands up to her chest gently siding away the remainder of her uniform covering the sides of her breasts as he gently rubbed her nipples, a rush of pleasure followed to his surprise.

He slid his hands across her chest as he slowly slid the uniform down her arms leaving the top half of the uniform draped across the bed hanging from her waist. She shifted her weight on top of his waist as she leaned down towards his face though the movement sent an intense wave of pleasure through their bodies. He slid his hands back up her sides and made his way to the back of her shoulders, he brought her back down on top of him as her breasts rested on his chest. They locked lips as he rolled her onto her back as he gently kissed her stomach and grabbed the two sides of her uniform and pulled them down revealing her slender blue legs and azure. Once he had completely removed her uniform he tossed it to the side of the bed, he was now kneeling at the edge of the bed with Liara laying face up across it.

He gently pulled her toward him until her knees were at the edge of the bed with her legs dangling off. He slowly began to kiss around her azure, she let out a soft moan as he made his way closer and closer to her azure. After a few moments he had made his way to her azure as he began to pleasure her, as she let out a much louder moan now he was almost paralyzed by the intense wave of euphoria washed over him though he continued on with the pleasure rising at a steady pace. The intense pleasure was far greater than the normal intercourse he had become accustomed to, he could feel what he was doing to her as if he was her and the pleasure was only amplified by the bond.

After a few minutes he paused to catch his breath and Liara sat up on the bed as she grabbed him by the shoulders and tackled him to the ground causing him to sprawl out on his back as she sat on top of his stomach. She slid down to his knees as she spread her lags placing each one at the side of his legs. She reached up and unfastened his belt and slid his pants off of him and tossed them on top of where he had thrown her clothes. She sprawled out across the floor as she nervously reached for his shaft and gently wrapped her hands around. She slowly began stroking as a similar wave of euphoria washed over them practically paralyzing him as he stared up at the ceiling. She began stroking faster sending even greater waves of pleasure between them.

After a few moments she opened her mouth and lowered her lips around his shaft as she began to weave across the head with her tongue causing him to let out a sigh of almost pure ecstasy. She continued on as she wrapped her mouth around his shaft and began to bob her head, after a few moments she lifted her head and paused to catch her breath. Shepard sat up and slid his legs around as he put his hands on her bare shoulders and sent her gently on to her back as he slowly spread her slender blue legs and moved his arms over her legs and under her shoulder blades. He paused for a brief moment to make sure she was comfortable she gave him a slight nod, though they didn't even need to communicate their minds and thoughts were so merged he could tell if she was in pain or uncomfortable. He leaned on top of her, his arms taking on most of his weight, as he rested his chest on top of her breasts and slowly entered her. A surge of pleasure so sharp hit him when he entered he almost shot up in sheer shock and Liara jolted her head back closing her eyes and letting out a soft moan. They locked lips as he pressed further inside her, after a few moments they had acclimated to the intense pleasure and he began to move his hips back and forth as they continued kissing.

Shepard continued to pick up the pace as Liara began to let out a small moan while they were kissing. After a few moments they began to reach their climax almost unanimously as he orgasmed inside of her causing her to begin quivering in pure pleasure. After a few moments he slid out of her and they sat up both of them trying to catch their breath. Shepard wrapped his arms around her and slowly stood up, once they had almost stood up Liara lunged her full weight at him catching him off guard and sending them toppling onto the bed with her on top of him. She began wrapping her slender blue legs around his interweaving them as she pressed tight against him as they rolled to their side locking lips.

A final surge of pleasure pulled him out of reality as gun shots replaced the soft hum of the drive core, he could see waves of batarians surrounding a lone soldier as he covered the retreat of a small group of children and adults to safety. The soldier looked familiar upon closer inspection the marking of his old armor were clearly evident, this was the Skyllian Blitz. Emotions of hatred, sadness, and defeat flooded his mind but they were interrupted by Liara as she stood beside him watching the soldier, which he knew now as himself. She was standing in his N7 jacket beside him, he had always liked the way she looked in that jacket.

Shepard watched in horror as a bullet pierced the soldier's kinetic barriers as he shot down for cover opening a hole in his defenses as a few batarians took the opportunity mowing down the group of defenseless colonists, he could hear the final screams of children as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"I'm so sorry Shepard," she said as she wrapped her arms around him from behind resting her chin on his shoulder.

Her embrace filled him with warmth as they watched as the soldier returned fire with blood streaming down his arm as the rest of the colonist's made their retreat. The soldier hadn't given his barriers time to recharge as a stream of returning fire punctured his shoulder but he didn't stand down this time, he kept on firing as the last group of colonists ran for cover. Multiple streams of bullets tore through his armor as one grazed his helmet another lodged in his side and another hitting him in the shoulder again.

The soldier took a few moments to let his shields recharge before he mustered up a powerful mass effect field hurling his cover into a group of five batarians killing them all instantly, with almost inhuman reflexes the soldier snapped to another group of batarians firing his assault rifle causing the bullets to pierce the cheaply made kinetic barriers of the pirates effortlessly as all three of them fell in quick succession. The other group on his right snapped to him firing sporadic and panicked burst of gunfire at him as he leaped for a nearby makeshift barricade the colonist had set up.

The image around them faded to black as familiar scene formed around him, he couldn't recognize it at first but he knew it was somewhere on earth. Though he quickly realized where he was when he saw the casket with a boy crying over it with his mother standing beside him placing her hand on the boy's shoulder. The boy turned to face directly at him with tears streaming down his face, "Why isn't dad coming back? Why did you let him die?"

He looked back at the boy in pure horror, "I didn't mean to I- I'm sorry," he pleaded as Liara gripped him tightly.

Everything around them was engulfed in flames except him and Liara, the flames subsided after a moment to reveal the familiar figure of himself in combat armor, "Why did you take cover? Those colonists were counting on you to protect them! What about those marines, they had children counting on you to bring their parents' home safe and you failed them!"

A tear streamed down Liara's face as she watched Shepard hang his head at the accusations, "I tried."

"Your best isn't good enough, you let Liara get shot because you couldn't hold the flank! You let Ashley die because you didn't move fast enough!"

Liara interrupted, "Shepard you know that isn't true! You need to forgive yourself you're only one man you can't blame everything on yourself!"

Liara turned him around and kissed him as she pulled him in tightly, causing everything around them to fade as scene around them faded back to the Blitz. They could see the faces of the colonists on Elysium light up as they saw one man come through the door with tattered armor. There were around fifty colonist's in that room alone, as the soldier slouched against the wall, another soldier came to tend to his wounds as others began rushing to various locations around him, likely securing the colony.

"You've saved more than you've lost Shepard," Liara said as she kissed him again and buried her face in his chest.

Shepard rested his head on her shoulder as everything around them faded as he slipped into unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

A few hours had passed as the familiar hum of the drive core returned as he slowly opened his eyes, he was still intertwined with Liara who was still resting peacefully on her side facing him with her right arm draped over his side. He looked over Liara's shoulder at the terminal behind her about five hours had passed, seeing he still had about four hours he turned his gaze back to Liara. After a few moments she took a deep breath before opening her eyes. She rolled over on top of him, resting her hands on his chest while sliding her legs back slightly. Though not as strong he could still feel minor sensation of touch as he slid his hands over her thighs, "Round two?"

"Don't tempt me," she said with a smile on her face.

She slid her hands up his chest and under his shoulder blades as she slid her legs back and lowered herself onto him as she rested her chest against his and gave him a kiss before rolling onto her back. He sat up as he glanced at the medals on his desk behind their picture, "I guess you know better than anybody now," he said as he threw his legs over the side of the bed.

Liara didn't say anything she just crawled over beside him and swung her legs over the bed and rested her head on his arm, "You did your best, that's all anyone can ask for," she said as he put his arm around her shoulder. Normally that wouldn't give him any solace but Liara was there, she better than anyone understood what he'd gone through.

"We'd better get ready before someone starts looking for us," he said as he grabbed his pants from the pile below them.

He set them aside and grabbed Liara's uniform and handed it to her, he returned to his clothing as he slid the pants over his legs. Liara did the same as she slid the one-piece uniform over her legs as she stood up to get a better grip. He sprang up as he held the two sides of the uniform up for her so she could slide her arms inside, he moved around to face her as he grabbed the sides of the uniform pulling them over her breasts as his hand found the seam by her waist and sealed her uniform up slowly watching as the fabric began to hug her figure, "Enjoying yourself?" She asked as Shepard finished sealing her uniform.

"A little," he said as he grabbed his shirt from the bottom of the pile and slid it over his head.

He walked over to his desk and slid on his uniform over his shirt as he grabbed the seam and sealed up his uniform.

"You don't think anyone heard us do you?" She asked as the door to his quarters opened and they stepped outside.

Shepard let out a laugh before responding, "Let's just hope they didn't."

They made their way up to the CiC where Preston was still overseeing everything from his terminal on the left side of the room, "We're about two hours out from Illos Commander," he said as he looked up from his terminal.

"Good, anything else?" He asked as he walked over to the raised platform that looked over the holographic display of the galaxy map which could also be converted to a replica of the Normandy when in combat which helped in damage control.

"No sir, we're on schedule."

He turned his attention behind him as he noticed Liara observing everything in the back corner. He turned his attention back to Presley, "Could you give her a crash course on one of the targeting consoles or something?" He said as he nodded her way to clarify who was referring to, a month ago Presley probably would've lost it at a request like that. Thankfully Presley had become quite fond of their non-human ship mates, he treated them the same as any other human crewman.

"I'd be glad to Commander, Garrus has proven quite helpful down in gunnery, I'm sure we can find an open spot for Dr. T'Soni," he said as he beckoned Liara over to his terminal.

Much to his relief Liara jumped at the chance to get some work done as she headed over to Presley's station. One of the crewman lead her to one of the seated consoles on his right and began giving her a crash course on how everything functioned.

About an hour had passed before the crewman left Liara to her station, apparently satisfied she could handle it on her own now. He turned over to her, "It's time to suit up," he said as he stepped down from the platform and made his way to the hangar with Liara following close behind.

Upon arriving in the hangar bay they were greeted by Garrus who had already put on his armor and had his sniper rifle and assault rifle clamped on his back, he gave them a quick nod as they headed to the lockers on the left side of the hangar. He punched in his access code on the locker revealing his helmet sitting on top of his N7 hard-suit, hanging just above his armor was his pistol, the M-3 Predator and his rifle, the M-8 Avenger. He paused for a moment before asking, "Have you tried out the new equipment I got in for you?"

"Yeah I got a few hours of practice in with them," she said as she clamped on the lower half of her armor over her uniform.

"How'd they do?" He asked as he finished sealing up the top half of his hard-suit.

"I noticed the auto targeting on the rifle and pistol was a lot more accurate than what I had on Virmire," she said as she slipped on the black upper portion of her armor.

The armor she was wearing wasn't exactly alliance standard issue he'd gotten it custom made for her from the requisitions officer on the Citadel, though it was a prototype he'd made sure it was reliable before giving it to her. It came equipped with top of the line kinetic barriers, a medical VI which tracked the user's health and had an array of internal medi-gel applicators built in, and had a set of biotics amps installed to increase the user's natural biotic potential. The suit probably costed more than his salary but he'd managed to pull a few strings using his Spectre status as leverage, they'd most likely agreed figuring a good review from a Spectre would be a dream come true for their marketing team. The weapons he'd given her weren't as special but they were prototypes, standard Spectre issue.

"I'm glad you like them," he said as he clamped his weapons on his back causing them to fold up as they made contact with the clamps on the back of his armor which held his weapons firmly in place.

Almost everyone else was on the right side of the hangar by the Mako in their hard-suits, Tali was the only one still getting ready but she'd came in almost right after they did so he doubted she'd be much longer, "Commander are we going to be taking the marines with us?" Kaidan asked as he approached him.

"No, I want them on standby incase things go bad. Last thing I want to worry about is casualties."

"They can handle themselves Commander," Kaidan said defensively.

"I'm not doubting the capabilities of your men but we're facing an entire Geth fleet, if we try to take them head on we'd lose," he said in his usual firm voice though he was making an effort not to sound too harsh.

"Of course Commander."

Almost immediately Joker's voice came through the intercom, "Dropping to sub-light speeds in ten minutes."


	6. Chapter 6

Liara was still messing with her gear when the intercom came on, though she was surprised at herself, normally she'd be shaking. On top of the fact she was about to face down an army of Geth and a rouge Spectre, she was also visiting Illos a place she'd never thought she'd see in her lifetime. Though maybe it was her experience or perhaps it was the bond, or maybe a mixture of both.

"I should get up there," Shepard said as he turned to head to the elevator.

Though before Shepard could make it a few steps she came up behind him and grabbed his right shoulder and spun the unsuspecting human around to face her. She reached up and kissed him as she pressed her armor against his which resulted in a clank as she wrapped her arms around him. Though it took him a few seconds he responded in kind as he put his arms around her, after a few seconds she broke for air, "Just in case I don't get another chance to do that," she said causing him to tighten his grip squeezing her slightly.

"We'll get through this, we always do," he said.

She released her grip on him as he gave a slight squeeze before releasing his grip on her and continued on his way to the elevator.

"Liara, Garrus, and Wrex you're going to go down with me in the Mako, the rest I want on standby with the marines in case we need back up," Shepard said before entering the elevator and sealing the door.

Though it was odd, normally she'd be embarrassed but she didn't really care, everyone in the room likely knew they were together anyway. She slid the thought to the back of her mind as she headed to the Mako, following behind Garrus and Wrex. They opened the side hatch and climbed through, somehow to her amusement, Wrex was able to fit through as she followed behind him. Garrus and Wrex had taken to the seats on her left she took the seat facing them on her right and strapped herself in.

Wrex broke the silence, "That's a nice set of armor, where'd you get it?"

"Shepard got it for me," she said replying politely, though she didn't harbor any resentment toward Wrex she preferred to keep the krogan at a distance, for now at least. She thought of him as a loose cannon and Virmire only confirmed her suspicions, though she couldn't blame him for his actions, if she were in his position she wasn't sure how she would've reacted.

"That armor is probably worth more than my salary at C-Sec," Garrus said with a laugh.

"I guess I'll try not to scratch it then," She said with a smile as she pulled the pistol from her hip as she double checked the auto targeting, she knew it was working but it helped calm her nerves when she focused on the little things.

After a few minutes passed Garrus broke the silence, "T'Soni if you keep checking your gear, you're going to break it," he said with laugh.

"Sorry, guess I'm just nervous," she said as she clamped the pistol back on her hip.

"I used to do the same thing back in the academy back when I was fifteen, I'm not sure my sergeant ever let me live that one down," he said as he relaxed back into his seat.

"How'd you get over it?"

"I don't know, experience I guess, unless you're using some shitty Elkoss rifle your gun isn't going to fail if you take care of it."

"I know; I guess it's more of a distraction than anything," she said as she pushed herself up in the seat so she could sit straight up.

The Mako shuddered slightly as the ship shook lightly as, most likely the cause of atmospheric re-entry she figured as she tightened her harness slightly. A few moments later Shepard bursting through the side hatch and sealed it behind him, "Joker we're all set," he said into his com as he took the driver's seat and strapped himself in.

"Everything going to plan?" Wrex asked in his gruff voice that was typically associated with the Krogan.

"Somewhat, we're dropping right on top of Saren," he said before turning his focus to the console in front of him.

She pulled up her EWAR console from the side of the seat, a few moments later the Mako lurched out of the Normandy. The force of the drop pushed her back into her seat as she tried to stay focus on the kinetic barriers on the monitor, they were holding steady for now. A few moments later the thrusters began to fire as they hit the ground with almost double the force than the usual drop. Once she regained her bearings she turned her attention back to her console which was now flashing alerts, "We're being targeted, multiple sources!" She shouted causing Garrus to quickly unlock his harness and climb into the gunnery hatch as a barrage of fire brought the kinetic barriers down to ninety percent.

"Aim for the colossus," Shepard said as she could feel the Mako swerve and the thrusters fire as the canon fired relentlessly.

She looked down at the scanners which showed what was most likely two colossuses and a small group of infantry heading for one of the entrances to the Prothean ruins in front of them

"Damnit the gate is closing!" Garrus yelled.

"We'll never get past those colossuses in time, we'll have to find to get that thing open," Shepard said.

"Barriers at sixty-five percent!" She yelled back at them.

"Can't we just blast through it?" Wrex asked oblivious to how massive the metal gate actually was.

She couldn't really blame the Krogan though, one would think that after over fifty-thousand years the gate wouldn't be a problem.

"No we'd need the Normandy to even make a dent," Shepard said.

She heard the thud of the launcher fire as one of the targets on her screen began to fade, "One left!" she yelled.

Garrus turned his attention to the last colossus and fired as Shepard continued his nauseating evasive maneuvers. The driving didn't appear to bother Wrex much if at all, though she was having a hard time keeping her lunch. The colossus was trying to get a lock on them since the hull sensors kept going off and on but she imagined Shepard's driving had kept most of the fire off of them, they barriers had only dropped a few percent.

"Got him!" Garrus exclaimed as the last signature of the colossus began to fade.

"Suit up, we're going out there," Shepard said as the Mako came to a halt near the gate.


	7. Chapter 7

Shepard glanced at the readings on his omni-tool the air was breathable but thin, though he wasn't taking any chances, "Keep your helmets on for now, I'm not taking any chances," he said through the receiver in his helmet.

His squad followed out behind him dressed in full combat armor, he could feel the strong winds push against his armor though he couldn't notice any temperature difference considering the suit was environmentally sealed. He turned his attention away from the Mako where his squad was disembarking and surveyed the surrounding area looking for any would-be ambushers.

"Any idea on how we're going to get this gate open?" Garrus asked his voice muffled slightly by the transmitter in his helmet.

"Our best bet would be to try and find some sort of security station or computer hub, probably down that way," Liara said as she pointed over to the overgrown entrance opposite of the gate.

"Alright then, let's move," he said as he pulled his assault rifle off his back, the rifle expanding as the sensors in the handle detected his grip on the rifle.

The rest of his squad following his lead as all of them reached for their assault rifles, seeing as every was ready he began heading for the overgrown doorway. Their speed came to a crawl as they approached the doorway, he motioned with his right hand and pointed at each side of the doorway then returned his hand to the underside of his rifle. Wrex moved up to the right side of the door and Garrus moved to the left with Liara coming up at his side with her rifle readied.

He was thankful she had actually read the tactics manual he'd given her a while ago, though he wasn't surprised, she wasn't one to take these things lightly or procrastinate for that matter. He jabbed upward with his rifle as his team moved with striking precision as Wrex and Garrus both charged through the wide doorway as he moved in with Liara following right beside him, he found two geth in his sights a few meters ahead he took one out with a few short streams though before his auto targeting could even get a fix on the second it had already keeled over from Liara's spray of fire. He looked over to see two would be ambushers on each side of the doorway taken out effortlessly during their breech.

"Good work," he said as he stepped over one of the geth troopers and proceeded down the open walkway.

It seemed very strange to him, everything was so cluttered and messy it was unlike any other alien base he'd ever seen, Turian bases were almost always symmetrical with everything laid out cleanly and even in their civilian architecture he seemed to notice a lot of inconspicuous objects that could be used for cover, though that was probably because almost every turian had some form of military training. Asari architecture was usually not as symmetrical as the turian architecture but human architecture seemed to be a mix of the two races but this facility seemed to have no idea of symmetry with walkways spread out haphazardly and random blocks of stone scattered throughout, "Is this typical Prothean architecture?" he asked letting his curiosity get the best of him, he usually wasn't one to let his mind wander during missions.

"From my experience no but I haven't seen many intact Prothean structures before," she responded though the enthusiasm in her voice clearly evident.

"Maybe when we're through with all of this we can study these ruins properly," he said as they approached another doorway.

He moved his hand over at the sides of the door way as his team set up, after a few seconds he jabbed his rifle forward as they breeched through, though this time there was no opposition waiting for them, not yet anyway, "Clear," he said causing everyone to slightly lower their weapons satisfied that there was no immediate danger.

They continued around a corner which lead them to a wide open area which was littered with stone blocks, presumably from something collapsing. Though the mess provided an unsettling amount of cover for his taste, "Move slow and check your corners, no surprises," he said with a calm but stern tone as they advanced.

His rifle's auto targeting was constantly scanning each object as he moved his rifle from side to side as he checked his corners, ready to fire at anything that moved. He moved his rifle around the corner where a geth trooper was lying in wait, before the unit was able to flinch he had already fired at least ten rounds into its hull as it crumpled over, "Cover!" he yelled as he leapt behind a nearby stone chunk.

His squad reacted before the ambushers could take their shot as they all leapt behind the chunks of stone and metal that had been scattered along the wide walkway. Garrus and Wrex were a few meters to his left taking cover behind a chunk of stone and Liara had taken cover behind a piece of stone directly to his left. The ambushers laid down a cone of suppressing fire on their positions, he ducked a little lower hoping the old chunks of rock wouldn't give way to the onslaught of fire.

After a few seconds he snapped into action, "Peek two at a time opposite ends, don't try to be a hero get down when you start taking fire," he said into his transmitter.

He popped out of cover as Wrex followed his lead on the opposite end, he quickly surveyed his area he could see four geth spread out in front of them, he fired a few shots before a barrage of fire forced him down. He quickly checked his omni-tool which was synced to his armor which showed his vital signs and kinetic barrier strength, the shots had only knocked him down to eighty percent, "I saw four geth ground level, none taken down, you?"

"Three on my side and one on a ledge, probably trying to flank," Wrex said back into the com

"Garrus and Liara you're up, focus fire on the left ledge," he said.

He watched as Liara fired a singularity at the geth trying to flank them as Garrus gunned down the floating geth. They fired a few more rounds at some of the troopers in front of them but were quickly forced back down, "Left flanker down," Liara said calmly into the transmitter.

He was surprised and impressed at how calm she was, considering the situation though he pushed it to the back of his mind as he returned his focus to the mission at hand, "I'm ready on your go Wrex," he said.

After a few seconds Wrex charged up as he followed suit, he immediately turned his focus to the closest geth and fired, a few of his shots got through the unit's armor before he was forced down. The geth had probably caught onto what they were doing, "One damaged, close right side but change positions before returning fire, they're onto our strategy," he said.

Liara moved to the right slightly closer to his position as Garrus moved closer to Liara's old position, they nodded at each other and sprung out of cover. They focused fire to the geth on the right this time finishing the job as they dispatched the damaged geth before returning to cover, "damaged is down," Garrus said.

"Recharge and go as one, divide your fire into two lanes, Garrus I need you and Wrex on the left lane while Liara and I will take the right lane, let's try to get two of them before we go back down but don't try to be a hero, stay alive," he said sternly as emphasized his last statement.

"Who are we going for?" Liara asked.

"Few meters down, far right," he responded as she nodded in agreement.

After a few seconds everyone was turned toward him waiting for the signal, he nodded back at them as they all sprang out he quickly found their target and fired with Liara's fire quickly joining him as the bullets tore through the geth's shields instantly causing him to burst into pieces at the force of their combined fire, Shepard quickly formed a biotic field as he pushed two more of the geth into the air as Liara followed it up with a biotic push, crushing them instantly against the wall behind them, though their success was quickly cut short as barrage of fire hammered their shields causing them to go back into cover.

"We got three, what about you?" He asked.

"Got the one but the other two got on us too fast," Wrex replied.

He played out a few scenarios in his head even though on paper it was an easy fight, it was never that simple. Numbers aren't everything he should know firsthand, the batarian's made that mistake on Elysium and he didn't plan on repeating it, "Alright Wrex bait at least one out of cover, once he starts firing on you take cover and the rest of us will come out and return fire," he said as he glanced at his omni-tool making sure his barriers were charged.

"Will do Shepard," Wrex said.

He watched as the krogan leapt up from the stone cover he was kneeling behind, after a few seconds a barrage of bullets forced the giant krogan back to his former position. Him and the rest of his squad came out of cover as they decimated the two geth who were still firing on Wrex's cover, their shields were overpowered before they could get back into cover causing them to tumble to the ground in a fury of sparks and twisted metal.

"Nice work," he said as he leaped over the stone cover he was behind.

He raised his weapon as he quickly checked his corners as his squad followed close behind. He saw the twisted husks of metal of their former attackers as they crossed the stone chunks where the majority of the geth had made their stand, seeing their condition he lowered his weapon satisfied that the threat was over for the moment.


	8. Chapter 8

He made his way around the corpses as he made his way up an overgrown set of steps upon reaching the top they were greeted by the sight of an overgrown metal building with an entrance on each side.

"This could be what we're looking for," Liara said as she studied the building from a distance.

"Let's not waste any time then," he said as he continued on toward the nearby building.

Upon entering they were greeted by another set of stairs to their right, he continued up them to find a terminal still powered. He stepped aside to let Liara began working on the terminal, it only took a few moments for her to get into the terminal and presumably open the gate though they couldn't tell for sure from here. The hum of machines filled the air as what he could only assume was supposed to be a projection but the message was most likely corrupt as it showed a humanoid but the image was distorted with lines striking through and random flashes of light.

"No escape... no escape."

"It looks like some kind of message but I can't understand the language," Liara said.

"Invading fleets, seek refuge."

"It's a warning. Can you not understand it?" He asked.

"It must be the cipher, it could've transferred an understanding of the Prothean language to your mind," she said obviously intrigued.

"No escape…. No escape!"

He turned away from the recording as the message from the beacon came flooding back as he saw hordes of civilians chased down by abominations of their own kind with fire and smoke spreading all around. The images shook him to his core but coupled with the warning he'd just heard made them all too real. He crossed his arms keeping his composure, though just barley. Though he could probably fool the rest of his squad, Liara knew him better than anyone now. She put her hand on his shoulder subtly as to not make it obvious. Though he could barely feel her hand through his hard-suit it was comforting, enough to bring his mind back into focus.

"All is lost…." He did his best to ignore the message and tried to refocus himself to the task at hand.

"Let's move," he said as he headed back down the stairs from where they'd come from.

It had taken them a few minutes to reach the Mako again but thankfully they were greeted by the site of an open gate, the opening revealed a downward incline which he could only guess lead to some sort of tunnel system.

"Looks big enough to fit the Mako in," Garrus said as he nudged him with his elbow.

"We'll take the Mako in," he said as he opened the side hatch of the Mako and climbed inside.

He stood in the front as he watched his team board, Liara was first as she climbed in and made her way to her seat and pulled up the EWAR console. Garrus was next as he climbed in and made his way into the turret with Wrex following behind him and taking a seat in front of Liara. The hatch sealed behind them as he took a seat and strapped in as the displays in front of him lit up.

He steered the Mako back around and entered the tunnels once they had reached the end of the downward incline as they entered a huge cavern which had massive walls lined with what he could only compare to sleeper pods or some form of stasis.

"By the goddess… they tried to put themselves in stasis," Liara said as she observed the pods lined on the wall through the exterior cameras

 _No escape…. no escape_

The words still echoing in his mind now only amplified seeing the hundreds of what were most likely deactivated stasis pods. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind as he continued down the wide pathway along the wall of stasis pods.

"Picking up targets up ahead," Liara said.

"Just some infantry," Garrus said

The soft buzz could be heard as the Mako's kinetic barriers deflected the small arms fire with ease as they approached the infantry. Garrus opened fire on the exposed infantry dispatching them effortlessly one by one. The last shot rang out from the turret as the last geth fell now twisted into a deformed piece of metal.

"They must've been looking for something," Garrus said

"Or Saren is just trying to slow us down," Wrex said.

He continued on causing a crunch as the Mako drove over the former Geth as the wheels crushed any intact circuity that may have been holding some small spark of life left. The walls looked as if they could continue on forever holding countless pods all deactivated he'd imagined. He shuttered to think of what kind of force had drove an entire species to such a conclusion that putting their entire race in stasis was their only option.

"I'm reading some kind of energy field up ahead," Liara said causing him to turn his full focus back to reality.

"Geth?" He asked.

"Not likely, I think this may be coming from the facility but I can't be sure," Liara said as she studied the readings on her terminal.

After a few moments he had a visual, it was some kind of energy barrier not too different from the one he'd originally had to get past when he'd rescued Liara. As they were within a few meters of the barrier another one formed behind them.

"Ambush?" Garrus asked as he swiveled the Mako's turret around in the confined space looking for targets.

"I don't think so, I'm not sure this is Saren's doing," Liara said looking up from her terminal.

"Suit up," he said as he grabbed his helmet from under his chair.


	9. Chapter 9

Shepard put on the helmet as a gust of air signaled that the helmet had sealed. The others had done the same by the time he was at the hatch, he opened it and crawled out. The air around them was still breathable according to his suits medical VI but he still wasn't going to take any chances, especially if this in fact was Saren's doing. He made his way over to the doorway and hit the access panel which revealed what appeared to be an elevator, he stepped inside as the others followed suit and activated it.

After a few moments of slow decent they arrived as the elevator came to a slow crawl before the sound of a locking mechanism signaled that they had stopped. He opened the door to find a walkway leading to some sort of terminal, the room was quite small compared to the rest of the facility. The walkway was surrounded by two stone walls filled with stasis pods but these pods appeared to be much more spaced out as if they were for a select group, not as cluttered as the ones he had saw before. The terminal which the walkway leads up to was surrounded by what appeared to be rock and some sort of vines twisted together in a chaotic display, it was possible the facility hadn't been finished or this was some form of Prothean architecture.

"You are not Prothean but you are not machine either." A voice called out from the terminal as they approached. A few moments later a corrupted projection appeared not unlike the recorded warning they had saw earlier. "Though you are not tainted by indoctrination like the one that passed through here earlier. This was one of the anticipated eventualities we had predicted."

"This is astounding, an actual Prothean VI and I can understand it!" Liara exclaimed.

"I have been monitoring your communications since you arrived and translated my output into a format you can understand. My name is Vigil and you are safe here for the moment but that is likely to change, soon nowhere will be safe."

"Are you some kind of AI," he asked.

"I am an advanced non-organic analysis system with personality imprints from Ksad Ishan, chief overseer of the Illos research facility."

"Why did you bring us here?" He asked.

"You must break a cycle that has gone on for millions of years but to break it you must understand it or you will make the mistakes we did. The Citadel is the heart of your civilization as it was for us and every civilization that came before us but the Citadel is a trap. It's actually an enormous mass relay, one that links to dark space. When it's activated the Reapers will pour through and everything you know will be destroyed."

"That explains the Keepers!" Liara exclaimed.

"Indeed the Reapers are careful to hide the Citadels true purpose carefully by using a race of organic caretakers which enables any species to use it without fully understanding how it operates. Reliance on the keepers ensures no species will discover the true purpose of the Citadel until it's too late."

"How do the Reapers survive out in dark space, some form of stasis?" He asked

"That is the conclusion that we made, most likely leaving one of their own to wake periodically and check the status of galactic civilization and signal the keepers when ready."

"The reapers will wipe out the council and the citadel fleet in one attack, along with every embassy on the station!" Garrus exclaimed.

"That was our fate, our leaders were dead before we even knew we were under attack. The reapers seized control of the Citadel and through it the mass relays. Transport and communication across our empire was crippled leaving each system isolated, easy prey for the Reapers fleets. Over the decades the Reapers systematically obliterated my people, system by system world by world. They methodically wiped us out."

"The war was lost why didn't you surrender?" Liara asked.

"No offer of surrender was ever given, our enemy had one goal. The extinction of all advanced organic life. Through the citadel they had information about our entire empire records, census data, and maps. Information is power and they knew everything about us. They marched across our empire completely obliterating some worlds and enslaving others. The indoctrinated servants then became sleeper agents taken in by other Protheans and then betray them to the Reapers. After a few centuries they had killed or enslaved every Prothean in the galaxy they were brutal and absolutely thorough."

"Where did they go after conquering your people? Why would they just leave?" Wrex asked.

"Our worlds were stripped bare, everything of value and all technology was taken by the indoctrinated slaves. Once they were sure our extinction was complete they retreated back into dark space leaving no trace of the invasion and only their indoctrinated slaves behind. Mindless husks no longer capable of independent though, they soon starved to death or died of exposure. The genocide of the Protheans was complete."

"Why keep doing this, what do they have to gain by this endless cycle of genocide?" Shepard asked.

"Unknown perhaps they need resources and technology or perhaps they're driven by some instinct unknown to us, in the end it doesn't matter. They must be stopped. The conduit is the key before our extinction we were on the brink of discovering the technology behind mass relays. Here at this top secret research facility our scientists worked to create a small scale version of a mass relay which was linked to the Citadel, the hub of the relay network."

"The conduit isn't a weapon, it's a back door to the Citadel!" Liara exclaimed.

"How did you survive?" He asked.

"Records of our work were wiped in the initial attack, as the empire came crashing down Illos was spared. We severed all communications and the facility went dark, the staff retreated into these underground archives. I was programmed to monitor the staff and wake them when the danger had passed but the genocide of an entire species is a long and slow process years passed, decades, and centuries. The Reapers persisted and my reserves were dwindling. I began to disable the pods of nonessential personnel, first support staff then security, one by one their pods were shut down to conserve energy. Eventually only top researcher's pods were active and even these were in danger of failure when the Reapers finally retreated back into dark space."

"You just killed them all?" Liara asked in sheer disbelief.

Though initially his reaction was the same the more he gave it thought the more he understood the VI's action, though he shuddered to think of a situation so desperate where this was a reasonable action, "It was their only option. If Vigil had kept all the pods active everyone would have perished a slow death or be discovered by the Reapers. At least their deaths were painless," he said in a sympathetic tone.

"This is precise conclusion we came to; it was also those actions that have given hope to this cycle. When the researchers woke they realized there were far too few of them left to sustain a viable population but they vowed to stop the Reapers and they knew the keepers were the key. After decades of feverish study, they found way to modify the signal. Using the conduit, they gained access to the Citadel and made the modifications. This time when Sovereign sent the signal to the Citadel, the keepers ignored it. They are trapped in dark space."

"He's going to use the conduit to bypass the external defenses!" He exclaimed as the reality of the situation set in.

"Yes and once inside he will transfer control to Sovereign who will open the relay and cause the cycle of extinction to begin again."

"Is there any way to stop this?" Liara asked.

"There is a data file in my console take it and upload it to the Citadel's master control unit. It will corrupt the Citadel's security protocols and give you temporary control of the station. It may give you an edge against Sovereign."

"Saren has enough of a head start," he said as he downloaded the data to his omni-tool and transferred to an OSD. "Thank you Vigil, for everything."

"Wait Shepard this may be the last chance to ever access this kind of information about the Protheans, who knows how long Vigil will last, even now the projection is weak." Liara pleaded.

Though he knew he couldn't let Liara's bias interfere with his judgment no matter how much he cared for her, though there could be benefit to gaining the knowledge of a race who fought the Reapers for centuries, like Vigil had said, information is power.

"Do you care if we copy your data banks?" He asked.

"I will transfer all relevant files I can to your omni-tool but my data banks are almost exclusively limited to information relevant to stopping the Reapers. Though you must hurry the one you call Saren has not yet reached the conduit."

"Thank you," he said as he accepted the incoming data transfer to his omni-tool.

After a few seconds the transfer completed and he motioned for his team to exit as he headed for the elevator they had arrived in. He stepped inside the elevator as the rest of his team followed suit. Garrus was the first to speak as the elevator sealed and began its accent, "If Saren makes it through the conduit civilian casualties are going to be high."

Realizing the possibility that Saren could in fact make it through the conduit he tapped the receiver on the side of his helmet, "Normandy I want you to rally the fifth fleet in the Andura sector and hold position, we'll find our own ride," he said as he observed the readout on his omni-tool ensuring his message was getting through.

"Aye Commander," Joker replied before closing the com.

The elevator slowly came to a stop as the doors opened to reveal the Mako as the energy barriers that had trapped them began to dissipate as they climbed in the Mako. It only took a few seconds for everyone to get back into their stations, within a few moments the Mako was charging at full speed down the archives.

"Picking up two signatures ahead of us," Liara said calmly as he nodded in acknowledgment.

Within a few seconds he could see the two geth standing, one on each side of the wall taking cover. He swerved to the right wall as the Mako ran over the pathetic stone cover the unit was using as it's frame was torn in half by the Mako as it hit the unit at full speed. Garrus already had his turret turned to the left as he launched one shell at the other unit the blast leaving only scattered bits of circuitry and armor plating scattered on the ground.

The g-forces tore at him as he was almost pushed out of his seat with the straps that held him in pressing against his armor, keeping him in the seat as he navigated around a corner at full speed. He couldn't afford to take it slow, too much was at stake. The echoes of the recording and fragments of his vision of burning cities creeped into his thoughts, _all is lost_. He pushed the grim possibility out of his mind as he finished rounding the corner to reveal at least eight colossuses between them what must be the conduit. It looked just like the one on the presidium but this one appeared to be active with energy flowing through out it.

"Multiple weapon locks!" Liara exclaimed this time her calm attitude slipping away.

The Mako had lost some speed during their turn around the corner but he quickly made it up as he slammed on the accelerator causing the Mako to lurch forward, straight into the hail of gun fire headed toward them. The barriers held to his relief as they continued down a slope towards the bottom where the conduit would be just a few meters away. The thud of the barriers reflecting projectiles ceased for a few moments no doubt the geth trying to account for their erratic maneuvering and high speeds.

"Barriers down to fifty," Liara said the tension in her voice clearly evident now.

Garrus had already taken to firing the turret at whatever target he could acquire as they continued down the slope. After a few seconds most of the geth had compensated for their high speeds as they continued to hit the hull at a steady pace. They were almost at the end of the slope when he fired the upward thrusters sending them flying toward the conduit

"Barriers are down!" Liara yelled.

A few seconds later they landed back on the ground just a few meters in front of the conduit, he didn't bother taking his foot off the accelerator causing them to dart forward as soon as they touched the ground, only a few shots hit the armor before they reached the conduit as a beam of energy engulfed the Mako as they were hurled upward as the sheer force of the movement pressing him against his harness, he could see the console flickering multiple warnings and alerts before slipping into unconsciousness.


	10. Chapter 10

Liara was jolted awake by a rush of adrenaline as the smell of smoke filled her lungs causing a burning sensation as the sound of alarms filled her senses. She imagined her hard-suits medical VI must have detected she'd gone unconscious and injected her she thought to herself as she groggily observed her surroundings, the red emergency lights were the only illumination in the tight space as she saw Wrex still groggily trying to make his way out of his harness. The straps on her shoulders were weighing down on her shoulders making it hard to focus with the straps of the harness pressing against her shoulders, she tried to make sense of it until she realized she was hanging upside down in her seat. She reached for the release on her harness grasping blindly for the button and a few seconds later her efforts were rewarded with a click as her harness released sending her tumbling to the ceiling of the Mako.

Pain surged throughout her body as she pushed herself up, she instinctively put her hand over her forehead. She brought her hand back down to her side though she could see the slight reflection come from a purple stain on her hand, noticing her hand was covered in blood, she cursed slightly at the slightly as she leaned against the curved wall behind her. After a few seconds her thoughts cleared the feeling of confusion quickly replaced by panic as her thoughts turned toward Shepard. She stood up quickly and stumbled over to the front of the Mako she made her way over to the cockpit where Shepard was hanging from his seat by harness. She shook him slightly though not causing a response, which only seemed to intensify her panicked state and the lighting was far too dim to tell what kind of condition he was in. She shook him again this time her desperation clearly evident, though to her relief a soft grunt came in response to her shaking, "Shepard!"

A loud thud came from behind her as she saw Garrus helping the now freed Wrex from off the ground. She turned back to Shepard as she noticed him slowly regaining consciousness she gently grabbed his shoulders and pressed the release on his harness as she pressed his shoulders against her stomach as the ninety-kilogram human shot downward causing her to fly back and hit the floor though she had absorbed most of the impact. His head was resting on her stomach as she lifted it and slowly sat his head back on the ground as she crawled back to her feet. Crawling over to his side she grabbed his hand and clutched it tightly, "Come on Shepard, wake up!"

She scrambled for the medical kit to their left and pulled out an injector of concentrated medi-gel. She tried to recall her brief study of human anatomy and injected the substance directly into his blood stream, thankfully asari and human anatomy were quite similar. After a few moments her efforts were rewarded as his eyes opened causing her to break away from him as she stood up and extended her hand out toward him. He grabbed it as she pulled him slowly onto his feat, "You alright," he asked no doubt noticing the dried blood that had tricked down her forehead.

"Yeah I'm fine," she replied as Garrus and Wrex came up behind them.

Shepard turned around and kicked the exit hatch, to her surprise it actually budged no doubt from the extensive damage they'd taken. He followed it up with a biotic push that sent the hatch flying out as the sound of alarms grew even louder. Shepard crawled out as she and the others followed his lead. Though before she was could climb out she heard gunshots ringing out causing her to speed up she emerged to find two geth soldiers lying on the ground beside Shepard. She checked her surroundings for any more geth as she scrambled into cover by the flipped over Mako, she reached for her rifle and pulled it off her back causing it to expand. Wrex and Garrus made their way out to join them finding cover beside her against the Mako.

"Two more incoming!" Shepard yelled back at them.

She saw the two Geth running at their position, she aimed her rifle at the closest one and pulled the trigger as short burst of bullets tore the unit apart the other one turned toward her and raised its weapon though before the unit could react she heard gunshots to her left causing the remaining geth to plummet to the ground. Shepard leapt over the cover he was using as he made his way to the elevator leading to the council chambers and motioned for them to follow him. She stood up from the Mako as she raised her rifle scanning for targets before dashing toward Shepard to catch up to him as the rest of the squad followed her. After a few seconds they were all in formation with Shepard leading the front, Wrex watching their back flank, Garrus watching the left flank, and her watching the right.

The carnage to the Citadel was quite unsettling to her, most of the presidium was up in flames. The once thriving and diverse flora from all corners of the galaxy now turned to ash or sprung across the ground and bodies of unsuspecting C-Sec officers and civilians littering their surroundings. To her the citadel was a symbol of peace and unity, to see it torn apart by conflict and blood shed was unnerving. She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind as they approached the steps to the elevator, Shepard beckoned them inside as he stood guard outside the elevator.

"Saren's going to pay for this," Garrus muttered as they stepped inside the elevator with Shepard hitting the access panel once he was inside.


	11. Chapter 11

Shepard was checking his rifle to make sure it hadn't sustained any serious damage in the crash when the elevator came to a screeching halt, the force sending him tumbling into Liara and hitting the wall behind her. He quickly got his bearing as he looked over at the holographic control panel which was now glaring red, "Damnit we're locked out," he said as he examined the control panel.

"Should be easy to get past, give me a second," Liara said as she pulled her omni-tool opening multiple displays that he could only slightly make sense of thanks to his alliance training where electronics was a basic course for everyone, not just engineers.

A few minutes passed before she finally spoke, "Alright give it a try now."

He walked up to the control panel and put his hand on it as his omni-tool synced with the system transmitting his credentials and biometrics.

"Spectre status recognized, please select a destination," the VI said as a list of possible destinations appeared in front of the holographic control panel.

He quickly selected the council chambers causing the elevator to jolt back into motion, "Nice work."

The elevator began to decelerate as they approached their destination, he signaled Garrus to take cover on the right side and Liara to take cover on the left side, "Council chambers is pretty close quarters for the most part, watch yourselves." Wrex seemed to take note of the comment as he slapped his assault rifle onto his back and instead opted for his shotgun. After a short pause he continued on, "Once the doors open Liara and I will send a biotic push out in front of us, Wrex you'll be entering first take as many out as you can but don't try to be a hero just get into cover and we'll be right behind you."

He looked around as everyone nodded their head in agreement, a few seconds later the elevator locked itself in place. Everything was silent the only thing he could hear was the breathing of his team as they anticipated the worst. He prepared himself mentally for the exhausting biotic display he was about to perform. The doors began to open causing the resounding thud of a biotic field as he and Liara both unleashed one in quick succession which tore half of the door off, the two biotic fields ripping the door into shards. The fields ripped through two geth who were coming to investigate the security breach, sending them flying into the wall crushing them instantly. He watched as Wrex charged out almost immediately, demolishing whatever remained of the crumpled up door, firing his shotgun at a geth on the left side as the devastating close range blast disabled the unit. Wrex then charged to his right pushing another geth against the wall, the force crushing its frame.

"Go!" Shepard said as he signaled the others to follow him as he charged out.

He fired a quick burst to the left of the first set of stairs with most of the shots finding their mark but wasn't enough to disable the unit, he snapped and fired some shots to a geth on the right but the unit ducked behind one of the many metal displays used to display the diverse plant life of each council species. He quickly followed suit as he ducked next to Wrex behind some makeshift cover. He saw Garrus and Liara duck behind a metal barrier adjacent to them.

"Only took down one," Garrus said with a noticeable tone of excitement.

"We don't have time to waste, Sovereign has probably torn through the Citadel fleet by now!" He said as he unleashed another exhausting biotic attack sending biotic fields upward near the geth's position as two of them flew into the air as Wrex tore them apart with his shotgun, devastating them at close range. Liara followed his lead as she unleashed the same biotic attack on the geth adjacent to the former geth. Garrus and Wrex focused their fire on the two floating geth Liara had pulled into the air, making short work of them.

He was exhausted from the two biotic displays in quick succession but he pushed his feelings to the back of his mind as he fought against the exhaustion as he leaped over the cover with his rifle at the ready, his squad following behind him as they approached the steps. They were greeted by eerie silence as they reached the top instead of gunfire. He approached the platform where he usually spoke to the council from, a holographic terminal was already being displayed, almost as if someone had stopped what they were doing in a rush. The display had most of its functions apparently locked off, giving the display a mostly red glow to it. He signaled for his team to take cover in the vicinity of the terminal before approaching.

Linking his omni-tool with the terminal he transmitted the file Vigil had given them. A few seconds passed before the terminal lit up in as each system unlocked turning the original red glow into a green one.

"Commander come in are you there?" Joker pleaded.

"Excepting someone else Joker?"

"You had us worried for a second Commander but we're picking up a distress call from the Destiny Ascension, I'm sitting a system away with the entire Arcturus fleet, the relays are locked down somehow."

He examined the holographic console in front of him before responding, "We're opening the relays."

Shepard moved frantically through the controls as he removed the lockdown on the relays. Suddenly he was knocked across the room, he could taste blood in his mouth and pain was rushing throughout his body. He was still trying to get his bearing back when he felt two people grab his arms and drag him across the floor. He looked up to see Garrus and Liara standing over him, he could see Wrex firing his shotgun sporadically most likely giving out suppressing fire.

"Ascension you're all clear, I repeat you are all clear," the voice of the com chatter still echoing in his helmet he could recognized the voice on the com as Joker's.

"The arms are opening! Focus on Sovereign!" Another voice said though this time he couldn't recognize who it was.

He felt the warmth of medi-gel slightly below his chest as he looked down to see Liara applying it with Garrus behind her still giving out suppressive fire. The numbing effect the megi-gel provided helped him pull his thoughts together, he could see Liara trying to talk to him but her voice was tuned out by the ringing in his ears from the blast.

"Shepard are you alright?" Liara asked as her voice faded in as the ringing subsided.

He nodded his head in response before reaching for his rifle on his back reminding himself that they were in a firefight, he couldn't afford to waste any more time. He braced himself against the metal cover they were using and peeked over to see Saren on some sort of floating disk, he'd seen them used before by high level mercs and pirates but the cost of such a device usually negated its effectiveness

"You're persistent aren't you Shepard?" Saren said obviously noticing him behind the cover.

"Why are you doing this Saren? Was it the power? What possessed you to betray every living thing in the galaxy, you were a Spectre you were supposed to protect them!" He yelled back the outrage in his voice clearly evident.

"I'm not betraying them, I'm saving them!" Saren said as he moved to the right, probably trying to find an open angle on his squad.

"Reapers want to destroy all organic life!"

"Not everyone! The Reapers need help; we can be useful to them if we just surrender. Is servitude not preferable to extinction?"

"You're fooling yourself if you think the Reapers will honor your deal, look at yourself you're indoctrinated! You have reaper tech fused to your body!"

"My lab you destroyed on Virmire was researching how to counteract indoctrination, I wouldn't be so foolish to let them indoctrinate me! They need my mind intact to find the Mu Relay, I still have control!"

"Look at yourself! You've ravaged the Citadel, the very thing you were supposed to protect! How many Turians died when the geth fleet tore through the Citadel fleet?"

"No! I'm saving them all! When the Reapers pour through the Citadel Palaven will be spared!"

"Is this the life you want for your species? Is everyone on Palaven going to have your 'upgrades'?"

"This cycle will be different!"

"The Reapers have existed for millions of years you don't think they've considered working with organics before? They have and they already do, they indoctrinate us and use us to betray our own kind like you're doing right now! You're throwing your species and everyone else into the arms of the Reapers!"

Shepard observed as Saren's implants surged with energy, likely the Reapers sensing their control over their avatar fading.

"No this is the only way!"

"Look at yourself the Reapers are trying to control you with your implants! Stop lying to yourself, you know I'm right!"

Saren didn't respond for a few moments causing Shepard to ready his weapon fearing the Reapers had already seized control of his mind he quickly looked over his cover to see Saren holding his pistol to his head.

"I'm not a traitor Shepard, tell them…. tell them I'm sorry. This is for Pala-" the words were followed by the sound of a gunshot as the high powered pistol instantly pierced through his kinetic barriers causing him to stumble off his platform, breaking through the glass floor that covered a small garden below.

"The road to hell is paved by good intentions," Liara said softly beside him as she stood up.

He was surprised by Liara's knowledge of human literature but decided to save the question for a better time, "He made it right the best he could in the end, just like Benezia."

"Yeah..." Liara muttered softly

"I'll go make sure he's dead," Garrus said coldly.

Shepard walked back over to the holographic interface and opened the Citadel arms, "The arms are opening!" An unrecognizable voice said over the com channel

"All ships focus fire on Sovereign," The familiar voice of Admiral Hackett coming through the com now.

The sound of a gunshot echoed out as he turned around to see Garrus standing over Saren's corpse.

"It's barriers aren't giving way! We need to pull back!" He assumed was the voice of one of the ship captains.

"No this is our only chance, hold your ground take this monster down!" Hackett with a sense of determination that sent chills down his spine.

What sounded like an explosion went off below him he turned to see his squad lying against the wall he saw Saren's body burning away to reveal a mass of implants fused to bone most of his flesh had burnt away leaving only a barely recognizable husk of the former Spectre. He mustered a biotic push that sent the now charging husk flying against the wall away from his squad. He jumped down and fired at the husk it quickly recovered and moved with a seemingly inorganic speed. It fired some form of biotic blast at him causing him to roll out of its path as he stumbled back to his feet and continued firing. Wrex was the first to recover as he sent a biotic push against the husk catching it off guard. They both continued firing as the rest of their squad regained their bearings.

"Take that thing down!" Shepard yelled as he hurled a chunk of rubble at the husk with his biotics.

He tried to keep his aim steady but the exhaustion was setting in as he wobbled back and forth firing sporadically his shots all grazing or just missing the husk entirely. He was thrown against the wall from a strong biotic field in response from the rampaging beast. He landed face down he could hear his squad fighting off the beast but he couldn't move, he just needed some rest. Though he could already hear his drill instructor from his days in training shouting off in his head, "What are you doing soldier? I don't give a damn if you're tired and I don't give a damn if you're in pain because the enemy isn't going to give a damn either."

He pulled himself up slowly the pain coursing through his body as he sat up, "What are you waiting for soldier? No one's going to pick you up off that floor besides yourself," the voice in his head yelled at him again. He could tell his right arm was broken and putting pressure on his left foot caused him intense pain but it seemed the only response he could muster up was a, "Yes sir," from under his breath as he used the wall to support him as he got onto his feet. It seemed the husk had ignored him figuring he was out as it had cornered his squad into the other side of the room as it's biotic barriers soaked up their returning fire like it was nothing.

He steadied his rifle in his left arm and against his body as he was still leaning against the wall for support and fired at the beast catching it completely off guard as it turned to face him which allowed his squad to continue the assault as the husk was being fired on from both flanks, which was too much for even the strongest of biotics. The husk sent another biotic field his way flinging him off his feet and crashing into what must've been an alien equivalent to a tree from one of the council races. The acidic taste of vomit filled his mouth with a mixture of blood as it poured out of his mouth he took slow and steady breaths trying to keep conscious he wanted to give up, and just let someone else handle this but the only thing he could respond with was, "Yes sir."

He pulled himself up against the pain as his hard-suit injected a steady trickle of medi-gel into his system which helped to ease the pain, blood and vomit were still trickling out of his mouth as he propped up against the tree and kept firing this time Liara coupled it with a singularity as the creatures weakened biotic fields succumbed to the pull of the field as the combined fire ripped the creature into shreds. When the singularity faded all that fell to the ground was circuitry and other electronics, anything organic had been burned away by the Reapers.

Shepard turned his attention back to the com the voice of Hackett now bursting through the receiver in his suit, "It's shields are down take that monster down!"

He saw the Normandy fly past the giant open window that overlooked the Council chambers, after a few moments the com was filled with cheering which he could only imagine meant one thing. His squad was running over to him where he was propped up against a tree with blood covering his face. Though before he could say anything he looked up to see a massive piece of debris heading straight toward them. He mustered up what little energy he had left for a few seconds before releasing a strong but spread out biotic wave at his squad sending them flying towards the enclosed hall way that lead to the council chambers, the display of biotics sending him tumbling to the ground. He crawled behind a near by tree and some debris and braced himself for the impact.

"Come on soldier one more push, one more mile," the voice in his head echoed through his mind as reality flooded back to him.

He was in a pile of debris though the tree had broken it had snapped and shielded him from most of the impact. Though he couldn't just let himself sit there his biotic push may not have been enough. He crawled through the debris, though now it seemed the medi-gel trickling into his system did little to help stave off the pain and shock. He could see an opening in the debris as he pushed his way through it. He could hear the chatter of what he could only guess were search parties. He used his good arm to push himself onto his leg, one step after the other he made his way up the incline. He reached the top where he saw his squad being treated by medics. He let out a small sigh of relief before looking up and letting out a small grin at the stars above which were now only shielded by the emergency mass effect fields. He could already see medics rushing up towards him he let his concentration slip though this time without the ridicule of his instructor as he tumbled backwards, the last thing he could remember was medics grabbing him before he lost consciousness.


	12. Chapter 12

The smell of anesthetic snapped Liara back into reality as she looked around frantically trying to get a sense of her surroundings she could tell she was lying on a bed but she could definitely feel them moving. She opened her eyes slowly as the bright light filled her eyes, she could make out what was likely two doctors, both salarians, standing on each side of her moving along with the bed she could only make out half of what they were saying, "Shepard is in critical condition, we're moving this one into minor surgery," the doctors said but she couldn't make out the rest of the conversation as the sound of their voices moved off into the distance. She was now fairly alert which attracted the attention of one of the salarians, "Patient is waking up, get her sedated it's too soon," the salarian on her right yelled frantically at one of the assistants. She instinctively tried to resist the warm sensation that was slowly pulling her into unconsciousness but eventually she succumbed to the medicine, as she slowly closed her eyes.

She opened her eyes as she observed the dimly lit room she was in, she wasn't wearing her combat armor anymore either, she was wearing loose blue scrubs. She sat up in the bed and moved her legs over the side the floor was cold on her feet as she stood up and disconnected the multiple monitors covering her arms and chest. The machines quickly made loud beeps and alarms in protest of their removal as she walked past them towards a nearby chair, likely for visitors. A salarian burst into the room frantically though upon seeing her his worried expression changed to a much more relaxed one as he stepped over toward her.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," she responded

"Good any nausea, vomiting, or headaches?" He asked as he pulled out a data pad from his lab coat.

"No, where's Shepard?" She responded her tone becoming more frantic as she remembered the conversation she overheard earlier.

The salarian paused for a few moments, "Shepard just got out of intensive surgery, his injuries were extensive. Multiple fractures throughout his body, internal bleeding, concussion, and a few broken bones. We've done all we could and he's stable but it may be some time before he wakes."

"I need to see him."

"Your ships doctor dropped these by for you, once you change I'll take you to his room," the doctor said as he pointed to a pile of clothes sitting on a nearby chair."

"Thank you," she said as she moved over to the pile.

The salarian nodded and stepped out of the room as she examined the pile, it was her white and green uniform though it wasn't extremely comfortable it was still better than the loose fitting scrubs she was wearing. She quickly removed the loose fitting scrubs and slipped on her usual attire and walked over to the panel she tapped it slightly with her hand which caused the door to slide open. The doctor was patiently waiting outside for her. He began walking down the hallway as he motioned for her to follow him, after a few minutes of walking they arrived at a room at the end of the hall where two alliance armed soldiers in full gear were standing guard.

The two guards observed them for a second before stepping aside and letting them in she didn't really know what they were looking for though they were probably just a precaution. They stepped inside to

see multiple pieces of medical equipment all around Shepard who was still unconscious. She pulled up a chair next to him and sat down, "Do you need anything else?" The doctor asked sincerely

She shook her head in response in order to avoid showing the emotion in her voice, seeing the gesture the salarian turned around and left the two of them alone. Upon hearing the door shut she dragged her chair as close as she could and laid her head down by his side, the body heat even though it wasn't much helped her slip into unconsciousness.

The sound of the door snapped her awake as she shot her head up, she turned to see Garrus who was carrying a small black bag. Upon seeing the friendly face, she turned back around and set her head back where it was.

"Want a ration?" Garrus asked as he sat down in one of the nearby chairs on her left.

"Not that hungry," she responded.

"When was the last time you ate?" Garrus asked as he pulled a specially marked dextro ration from the bag and opened the packaging.

She tried to dismiss the question but the last time she could remember eating something was before the Normandy was grounded, "I'll take one."

Garrus threw one of the rations at her, she caught it and opened the packaging. Like most of the rations she'd had it didn't really have a smell, unless cardboard was considered a smell. She took a bite of the crunchy ration; it wasn't the flavored kind or actual sealed meals like they had on the Normandy these were just a bunch of proteins and vitamins lumped together like a candy bar but without the flavor. Though she didn't mind the bland ration, she wasn't really in the mood for something fancy right now. After a few bites of the ration she started to remember how hungry she actually was as she kept a slow and steady pace of bites. After a few minutes she'd finished the ration and stuffed the packaging in one of the few pockets her uniform had and laid her head back down.

It had been three days since the attack on the Citadel and Shepard still hadn't woken up and she'd past most of the time by sleeping or watching the vids. The sound of the vid-screen pulled her out of unconsciousness as she turned to see Garrus looking intently at it, "This is Citadel News Net and I'm Emily Wong reports are coming in that Commander Shepard is recovering from the Geth attack in Huerta Memorial Hospital, crowds have been gathering at the hospital for the past few days to try and pay their respects toward the Commander but hospital officials have yet to confirm or deny these rumors. In other news many officials in the alliance are saying Ambassador Udina actively tried to impede Commander Shepard's investigation into the rouge Spectre Saren, the one seen leading the geth attack on the Citadel, some going as far as to say the Ambassador tried to ground the Commander mere days before the Geth attack which the Commander and his team are widely believed to be the ones responsible for holding off the assault though Council and Alliance officials have yet to confirm these rumors."

"I hope that bastard Udina gets what's coming to him, if he was a Turian he'd have been court martialed for treason," Garrus said as he turned his attention back to her.

She nodded her head in agreement but right now she just wanted Shepard to wake up, sooner or later Udina's incompetence would catch up to him though it worried her how many lives would have to be lost before that would happen. If Anderson had failed in disengaging the lock on the Normandy, things would've turned out much different and likely had galactic consequences. She put her head back on the bed and dozed off into unconsciousness.


	13. Chapter 13

Shepard could feel a warmth on his left side as he slowly came out of unconsciousness, he opened his eyes to see a dimly lit room though all he could see was the ceiling. The last thing he could remember was medics rushing up to him, was he in a hospital? He tried moving his stiff neck from side to side to try and get a bearing on where he was. He looked to his side to see Liara's head pressed against his side, from what he could tell she was still sleeping.

"She's hardly left your side and it took some convincing to get her to eat but she's gotten plenty of rest." It took him a few minutes to recognize the voice, mainly because he still felt groggy but after a few seconds he recognized the voice as Garrus.

"How long have I been out?" He asked as slowly propped himself up against the back of the bed.

"About three days," Garrus responded before taking a bite of the ration in his hand.

"Well that explains things," he said as he rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand trying to get rid of the stiffness.

One of the machines to his right which he assumed was likely monitoring his vital signs considering most of the sensors and tubes covering him seemed to lead back to it began emitting a soft beeping noise. Though not extremely loud it was enough to rouse Liara who was now shifting her head slightly still groggily trying to get a sense of her surroundings. He moved his hand over to hers which was still resting on the bed besides his leg and held her hand in is. She looked over at him as her face lit up at the sight of him, she sat back up in her chair.

"Took you long enough," she said before letting out a smile.

Shepard let out a small laugh though his body made sure to remind him of his injuries as a small jolt of pain shot through his chest. He pushed himself back against the bed slightly as he sat up so he could finally get a better glimpse of the room. Though almost as if on que the doors opened revealing a salarian in a lab coat who was holding a data pad in his hand. The salarian walked in and tapped something on his data pad causing the low beeps to stop, "Good to see you awake, Commander," the salarian said as he walked over to his right side, opposite from Liara.

"Thanks," he responded as the salarian began taking readings of him with his omni-tool stopping every few seconds to input something onto the data pad in his hand.

"Good most major trauma has healed, internal bleeding stopped, and likely no permanent damage. I must say you humans can take a beating, when you first arrived I wasn't sure you'd make it through the night," the doctor said as he looked down at his data pad, likely examining it for errors.

"So when can I get out of here?" Shepard asked as he shifted slightly in the bed.

"I see no immediate reason to remain, you likely have many things to attend to I'm sure. I would strongly recommend daily checkups with a medical professional until they deem it unnecessary for the time being."

"I'll make sure he gets them," Liara said before he could give a response though he couldn't blame her, he didn't exactly have the best track record when it came to checkups and medical advice.

The doctor nodded in response as he moved over to the machines as he made minor adjustments to a few of them before he moved back over to Shepard as he began disconnecting the sensors from him and after a few minutes he'd removed all of the monitoring equipment he'd been hooked up with. Shepard thanked the doctor before slowly moving his legs off to the left side of the bed as pain shot throughout his body though the effects of the medi-gel had yet to wear off completely numbing some of the pain. He slowly pushed himself off the bed causing Liara to instinctively grab his right arm as she tried to hold him up.

"Don't push yourself too hard Shepard," Liara said sternly to him as he struggled to stay on his feet.

"She's right there is no rush, you can stay here as long as you'd like Commander," the doctor responded.

Garrus moved over to his left side as he grabbed his other arm to help Liara who was obviously struggling to hold up the ninety-kilogram man by her side. They moved over toward the row of chairs that Garrus had been sitting by before setting him down in one. They sat him down in one of the chairs causing him to land with a hard thud against the cushioned chair, "I need to brief the council, I'm not going to let them try and cover this up and pretend like nothing happened," Shepard said once he'd sat down and adjusted himself slightly.

"The Council can wait a few more days can't they?" Liara asked.

"Possibly but I'm not taking that chance the Council have screwed me over too many time, I don't exactly give them the benefit of the doubt anymore," he said as he slowly stood up this time taking it much slower and allowing for his legs to accommodate the newly added weight.

Liara came to his side and grabbed his arm wrapping it around her neck as they continued over to the door. Upon opening it they were greeted by the site of medical personnel rushing from room to room some wheeling patients around in wheelchairs. The salarian came up behind them and beckoned them towards him as he approached a locked door. He passed his hand over the control panel causing it to unlock, probably through his omni-tool or biometrics either one was a possibility. They stepped inside the cramped space which they could see now was likely a staff elevator, the salarian pressed a button which looked to lead to the roof.

"Where are we going?" Shepard asked as the elevator began its ascent.

"Roof top we have a shuttle waiting for you to avoid the crowds we figured you probably wouldn't feel up to seeing them right now," the salarian said as the elevators ascent began to come to a slow.

"Crowds?" Shepard asked.

"Been here since the attack and word got out that you were being treated here," Garrus said as the doors to the elevator opened revealing a medical sky car hovering in front of them.

They stepped into the white and red sky car causing the door to slide closed behind them and after a few seconds he could feel the sky car come to life accelerating quickly. It didn't take much time to reach the docking bay and they'd taken to enter through the exterior glowing mass effect field to not attract any attention, plus Shepard didn't feel comfortable making a public appearance in scrubs. He could feel a jolt as they touched down near the Normandy, "I need a few minutes to prepare and get my uniform on, then we're going to meet with the council," Shepard said before lifting himself onto his feet and slowly climbing out.

Shepard opened the access panel to his cabin, to his relief most of the crew were giving their account of the situation or just on shore leave. He quickly removed the scrubs and within a few minutes he was in full alliance formal wear. He logged onto his terminal and quickly sent a message to the council informing them that he was ready to give his report and he'd be there within the hour, he gave the message one final proof read before sending it and heading towards the door. He opened the door to see Garrus and Liara waiting for him at the door, both dressed in uniform, Garrus had what looked like the turian's equivalent of formal wear though as a highly militarized society their formal wear still seemed to closely resemble their combat attire. Liara was simply wearing an alliance uniform, it was fairly tight and hugged her figure quite well. The shirt was black with blue lines going down around the arms and around the waist, pretty standard alliance uniform but it did look a little bit more professional than her usual attire. Shepard nodded at them and they headed for the stairs that would eventually lead them to the airlock, "The council is expecting us," Shepard said as they entered the CIC

"Good," Garrus replied as they headed down the walkway towards the airlock.

About half an hour had passed before they finally made it to the Presidium a lot of the area was still in disrepair but a lot of the most visible damage like breaches in the hull or massive debris had been cleaned up or repaired there were teams of workers and keepers in full swing trying to get the Presidium looking spotless again, though he didn't want to imagine the damage the wards had suffered. Though he could understand why cleaning the Presidium was such an important task as opposed to the wards, the Citadel was at the forefront for almost all forms of civilized diplomacy in the galaxy and after this incident he was sure there was going to be a lot of diplomatic work to be done.

They were greeted by two fully armed C-Sec officers the armor they were wearing looked to equipped with kinetic barriers, "Greetings Commander the council is expecting you inside," the guard on their right said as the one on the left stood silent in attention.

They stepped inside the elevator and activated it, within about a minute they'd reached the council chambers though this area had taken a lot of the damage it was almost back to the way it used to be, though much of the alien plant life had been destroyed though that would likely take time to repair. He could see the councilors up ahead a long with Udina and Anderson, there was a construction team still working on the platform the council usually used to meet with people so the move wasn't unexpected considering a huge piece of debris completely tore through the platform a few days earlier.

"Commander," Udina greeted them as they approached.

"Shut it Udina," Shepard quickly retorted.

"I'm the only reason you and your entire crew haven't been court martialed yet, I'd watch your tone Shepard," Udina said with his usual tone of complete arrogance.

Shepard stepped toward Udina, "We're the only reason you aren't all dead, if Saren had succeeded the Reapers would've poured through and wiped us all out within a century."

The turian councilor interjected, "Commander your Reaper theory has yet to be proven."

"Are you serious? A chunk of Reaper is the reason you're standing here and not on your platform and yet you still can't accept it!"

"For all we know Commander that was a Geth dreadnaught, not a Reaper," the asari councilor said.

"Well since you're not going to believe anything I say why am I here?"

The salarian councilor seemed to almost stare down the turian causing him to back down before he spoke, "We've gathered here to recognize humanities great contribution in the battle for the Citadel. Many human lives were lost so that we the council could live and that will not soon be forgotten."

The asari councilor continued, "Humanity has shown it is ready to take a bigger role in galactic matters and we've decided that humanity has earned its place on the council. Given your reputation Commander, I'm sure your recommendation will carry tremendous weight is there anyone in particular you think would suit the position?"

He thought about the question for a moment he had two choices before him Udina or Anderson. Udina may be a politician but that was the problem he couldn't make the hard choices, unless they benefited him of course. He'd shown his true colors today and if he'd been on the council yesterday then they'd be dead or fighting off a Reaper invasion right now. That left him with one man, Anderson, there was no questioning Anderson's loyalty or his priorities, the question was would he be up for it? He was a soldier but right now he didn't have any other options he needed someone who was going to back him, with a Reaper invasion imminent he couldn't afford to be fighting bureaucracy. The whole process had taken about ten seconds and the long pause had everyone staring at him intently waiting for his response, "Anderson."

The answer made Udina jump back in revulsion, "Anderson? He lets his fists do most of the talking!"

"You let your ass do most of the talking Udina," Shepard replied calmly.

"Well whoever is decided to be humanities councilor, we look forward to working with you," the asari councilor said.

Shepard looked over at the councilors, "I'll be waiting for my next assignment Councilors," he said as he turned and headed for the door causing Garrus and Liara to follow suit.

Anderson called out as Shepard was stepping in the elevator, "Good luck Commander."

Shepard nodded respectfully at Anderson and hit the control panel causing the elevator door to slide shut.

 **Thanks for reading, I do have more planned stories that will take place before the events of ME2 and after ME1 but I'm hoping to sort of give it a fresh start, still drawing references to previous stories but making it easier to simply start at my newer ones without having to read through my first few stories.**

 **Reason being is that my writing while much improved in this story has a lot to be desired, considering this story took about two months to write I could see when I went back and did editing that I was making and a lot of mistakes and likely still am. I've been planning the plot for my next story for a few weeks so I'm hoping to give my stories to come a lot more quality.**

 **As always reviews are super helpful in this aspect to help me improve my writing as I'm still very new to it. (or if you're not much of a critic and just enjoyed the story leaving a few nice words is very encouraging to me)**

 **Thanks again to everyone who are following and adding my stories to their favorites and leaving reviews, you guys are super encouraging.**


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